Testing for Blood Groups

We purchased some blood testing kits from Ebay and tested our own blood to identify our blood groups.

Home Education Animation Workshop

Animation workshop attended by Owen and a group of locally home educated kids aged 11 to 16.

Learning About Mean & Averages

My kids do not have any scheduled Maths lessons.  When they want to learn something they ask me.  For example my daughter recently wanted to learn how to add a list of large numbers so I taught her long addition.  When they are keen and ready I find they are able to learn most things quickly.  But there is also a great deal of Maths in every day life.  For example I run a small business and my son often helps me book the post in.  To do this he needs to weight each bag and then work out the average weight of each item and select the right Royal Mail code depending on the size of the parcels.  As a result of this he is pretty confident with means and averages.

Painting & Decorating

A huge part of our unschooling is that the kids learn by taking part (if they wish) in normal day to day activities, jobs and routines.  We are currently decorating a room and Anya has learnt which paints to use on wall and wood, what types of brushes to use, how to clean them and without much instruction has learnt to paint really well by simply watching and trying.

Anya Looking After a Friends Dog

Anya loves dogs and asked if she could look after a friends dog whilst we were on holiday.  Although we have lots of animals (cats, chickens, ferrets and fish), caring for a dog required more time than our other pets.  She really took her responsibility seriously and walked the dog twice a day including cleaning the mess, fed the dog and slept with him on her bed every night.  She really enjoyed the experience but decided she didn't want her own dog as they needed more time and were less independent than her cats.

24 Hours By Anya Bedford

Roblox: Understanding Profit & Loss

Owen and Anya love to play Roblox.  The game allows them to develop their own games.  In addition, they are able to buy virtual items such as hats and hair using a virtual currency called Roblux.  Some items that are sold become rare and limited items and if bought at the right price can be resold at high profits.  The kids regularly buy and trade limited items to earn Roblux which they can then use to buy other items or develop and market their own games.

Stage Coach Summer School

HESFES Home Education Festival

Lambeth Country Show 2013

Anya Singing at Poets Corner Street Party

Making Ginger Beer

For this, you will need screw-top, 2-litre plastic bottles, which you have cleaned thoroughly with boiling water."

Makes 2 litres

Ingredients

• ¼ tsp brewer's yeast
• 225g raw cane sugar
• 1½-2 tbsp finely grated fresh root ginger
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 good tbsp honey

METHOD

1. Add the yeast to the bottle* (see warning below). With a funnel, pour in the sugar.
2. Mix the grated ginger with the lemon juice and honey.
3. Pour the ginger mixture through the funnel into the bottle. Now fill the bottle about ¾ full with water, put the cap on and shake the bottle until all the sugar is dissolved.
4. Top up the bottle with water, leaving a 2.5cm gap at the top, to allow for production of gas. Cap the bottle tightly, then place it somewhere warm. Leave it for about 48 hours. Once the bottle feels very hard and has no give in it, your beer should be ready.
5. Place the bottle in the fridge for several hours to stop the yeast working. Once the beer is thoroughly chilled, pass it through a fine sieve and serve.

Warning

We advise you use plastic bottles rather than glass to avoid explosions. A really active mixture can produce lots of gas if left for longer than 48 hours, so do remember to let it off reguarly!

 

 

Thorpe Park 2013

Anya's 10th Birthday

The Big Bang Science Fair

Imperial War Museum

Growing & Juicing Wheat Grass

Medieval Workshop Orpington Roman Villa

Owen attended a Medieval history workshop were he learnt to make brass rubbings.

Making a Mallet in Forest School

Roman Villa Workshop

Owen attended a Roman Villa workshop at Orpington Roman Villa.  The workshop was run in a very schooley manner and Owen found it quite boring.  For example they created Roman mosaics but the kids had to copy a set pattern which did not inspire Owen to be creative or understand the creativity of the Romans.

London Recumbents - Bicycle Hire in Dulwich

Train Times & Planning Our Trip in Japan

We recently spent 3 weeks travelling around Japan.  The kids were very involved in helping us work out train times and planning transport connections.  Planning our journey presented particular problems due to the train and bus time tables being in the Japanese characters.

Travelling To Japan & Time Zones

 

I have noticed how travelling sparks a real interest in topics relating to Maths including time zones, travel time tables and currency and exchange rates.  The kids took a real interest in time and were fascinated about how we flew towards the night and arrived in the morning in Japan when it would have been the previous evening in London.